thirdworldgamer

Some of the images I've seen for PGR4 are just breathtaking. My own screenshots are not as good as these screens, which I found on the pgrnations.com website: http://forums.pgrnations.com/forums/5/7178/ShowThread.aspx#7178 http://www.pgrshowcase.com/ To view my own screens, check this link http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b34/scytherage/

This morning at around 9:00AM I downloaded both the demos for Guitar Hero 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Guitar Hero 3 is awesome; unfortunately, my guitar is with my brother so I wasn't completely able to appreciate it. So I left the demo and to my surprise, my download for PGR4, which weighed in at 1.2 GB had actually finished downloading. I wasn't too optimistic for the game. I enjoyed PGR3 and thought it was a great launch title, but personally I played a lot more out of Ridge Racer 6 than PGR3. So I was expecting PGR4 to be the same, usual, sterile driving experience....I mean, as a guy who has played the HELL out of Forza Motorsport 2, you can imagine my expectations for the PGR4 demo were really, really low. At about 12:30 in the afternoon today I left Data Blitz, with the full version of PGR4 in hand. What happened? Well, apparently both me and my wife were just so incredibly impressed by PGR4. The graphics have been improved significantly...

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2007/oct07/10-22ArcadeConsolePR.mspx http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360arcadesystem/ "Microsoft Launches New Xbox 360 Console for Families New console includes five games, wireless controller and storage to save games — all for the incredible value of $279.99 REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 22, 2007 — Just in time for holiday, Microsoft Corp. today released a new Xbox 360® console that delivers games and content to everyone in the family for an incredible value of $279.99 (U.S. estimated retail price)*. Available in stores beginning today, Xbox 360 Arcade console is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games, a wireless controller, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to enable high-definition output if desired and 256 MB of memory useful for storing games and entertainment content. At $279.99, the Xbox 360 Arcade console will include five best-selling games: “PAC-MAN Championship Edition” (NAMCO BA...

The Xbox 360 is on the receiving end of an incredible lineup of games for the latter half of 2007. Here's a list from IGN; I'm not even sure if it's a complete list, and it doesn't cover those surprises like Xbox Live Arcade games or Downloadable Content: October 23, 2007 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation October 24, 2007 Battlestar Galactica Sierra Action October 28, 2007 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock RedOctane Music October 28, 2007 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (game only) RedOctane Music October 29, 2007 Avatar: The Last Airbender -- The Burning Earth THQ Action October 29, 2007 Cars Mater-National THQ Racing October 30, 2007 Bee Movie Game Activision Action October 30, 2007 Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition Ubisoft Board October 30, 2007 Naruto: Rise of a Ninja Ubisoft Adventure October 30, 2007 Simpsons Game, The Electronic Arts Action October 30, 2007 TimeShift Vivendi Games Shooter October 30, 2007 Virtua Fighter 5 SEGA Fighting October 30, 2007 Viva Pinata...

Lost Planet just lost its exclusivity status with the Xbox 360. The game is one of my favorites; I really love the mech combat and the art direction that they did with the environments and enemies :) The Playstation 3 is getting its own version of Lost Planet next year. Unfortunately it seems the fantastic graphics from the Xbox 360 version aren't making it to the PS3. Check out the comparison pic below. This trend has happened time and time again for the PS3. The Xbox 360 versions of the same games look better and play smoother than their PS3 counterparts. For Lost Planet it's a bit unthinkable considering Capcom was given a substantial amount of time to tweak the game for the PS3---and the above graphics are the result? Perhaps the continued argument that the PS3 is hard to develop for does hold some weight. The promised potential of the PS3 has yet to be demonstrated by any game, and as time passes, Sony loses their opportunity to win the market for this generation.

It seems Sony was completely overwhelmed by Microsoft this generation. They're already begging third-party developers to stay with them: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/10/deans_take_on_npd_numbers_for_september.html "One piece of news that came out this week was that Sony pleaded with third-party developers not to abandon its struggling platform. That change in attitude is a marked difference compared to the arrogance of past years. The argument is that the PS 3 will show its strength as developers learn how to make games for it. But developers know they can staff four or five Wii teams with the same number of people it takes to make one PS 3 game. We may have a glut of Wii games soon, but that’s not as bad as not having enough games on the PS 3. The Xbox 360 is going to have a good season with games like “Mass Effect” and “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” still to come. Yes, I know it’s also on the PS 3. But clearly it will sell more units on the Xbox 360. Sony managed...

Not gaming related, but sad news in my country. Terrorists have attacked one of the local malls near the Central Business District. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=95462 It's really tragic that these things happen; what's worse is I believe that my government probably doesn't have a clue how to handle these kinds of situations. They're ill equipped because most of the money that was supposed to be spent protecting the people from this kind of attack is probably being pocketed away by politicians to spend on their ultra-luxurious villas and sports cars and mistresses. It's also unfortunate that these terrorists who do these kinds of attacks don't realize that what they're doing is only going to worsen the situation in this country, by bringing about instability and economic uncertainty. They're not helping the Filipino people when they do this; truly there are problems with our government but through violence th...

At long last, the Pinoyxbox community has finally gotten the opportunity to meet with Microsoft Philippines. Thanks to Mr. Jojo Ayson, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft Philippines for meeting with us, and thanks for the food and freebies :) The official Pinoyxbox thread for the meeting is linked below: MICROSOFT PHILIPPINES & PINOYXBOX MEETING While there was no confirmation or date given for official support for the Xbox 360, I personally think that it's a good start for the community. Here are the results of the meeting, as posted by Wuffy: *** Summary: Microsoft Philippines will not support the XBOX 360 in the country anytime soon. However, they are willing to support the PinoyXBOX Community Events. How MS Philippines can help the PinoyXBOX Community. Note: All items/venue are subject to availability and proper authorization. We also have to give MS ample time to process our request. * The usage of 2 XBOX 360 consoles for PinoyXBOX events (This consoles will be a donation...

The Official Xbox Magazine issue 77 has the exclusive for the demo of GUITAR HERO 3! Here's the song list for the demo: The Metal - Tenacious D Rock You Like A Hurricane - as made famous by Scorpions Even Flow - Pearl Jam Lay Down - Priestess Hit Me With Your Best Shot - as made famous by Pat Benatar Here's a listing of videos that are available, made off of the demo: Even Flow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaaWrQ7ri_E The Metal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=295fxG4S6DY Rock You Like A Hurricane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVXbD_4thQ Lay Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MT3ktyi5M8 Hit Me With Your Best Shot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f42K3IWcCE Other stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUaoty0unc

Here's a little story that I might have never posted before on the blog. Did you know that there was a time when Filipinos based in the Philippines that are playing on Xbox Live could have been locked out from using the service? It almost happened. At some point this year, around May, I think....I recall that MS wanted to implement a new dashboard update. This update, together with some other tweaks to the Xbox Live service, could determine the user's physical location when he logs in to Xbox Live. Prior to this, some users noticed that there was downloadable content that they couldn't download because they were only available in some regions. For example, the Dead Rising demo can't be downloaded if your gamertag is registered with the location as 'Germany'. That's because of the laws and restrictions on video games that are being implemented in that country. Gamers found a workaround for this.....they created new gamertags with the registered country as som...

From Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6181070.html "Bionic Commando returns Capcom franchise swings back into action with new adventure set for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot Posted Oct 15, 2007 5:00 pm PT Bionic Commando Capcom's original swinger returns. Watch Download Released in 1988, the original Bionic Commando introduced a novel grappling hook mechanic into a stagnating side-scrolling 2D platformer genre. While the Capcom-developed game was highly regarded (and even named as one of GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time), the franchise has been dormant outside of a 1992 Game Boy version and a 1999 Game Boy Color pseudo-sequel. That's about to change, as Capcom has revealed to GameSpot that it is developing a new Bionic Commando game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Simply called Bionic Commando, the new game will bring back the original game's hook (pun intended), with players able to use the main chara...

According to this interview with Harmonix, Rock Band is only going to be available as a bundle until February 2008: "On the “items not sold separately until 2008″ rumors: When Rock Band ships this November it will only be available in one flavor, bundled. Done. Confirmed. Although there are a few reasons for this the main seems to be based on retail. Firstly, the components in the bundle are not cheap and thus creating a bundle and three other separate packages (guitar, drums and vocals) would increase costs which could lead to less bundles available at ship. Lastly, although retail partners are confident the title will be successful they are appreciative of the fact that they won’t have to display four reasonably-sized packages in each of their stores. When is Harmonix looking to ship the separate components? Early 2008 is the general goal, so EB/GameStop’s leak was correct." This and other information on Rock Band is available at this link.

Posted this over at one thread in Pinoyxbox, I just thought to put it in the blog as well, because it summarizes my thoughts on the lack of official support from any of the major console makers for the Philippines. I think Microsoft is best poised to officially support the 360 in the Philippines compared to their rivals Sony and Nintendo. This is because of several factors which I wrote in the post below, in reply to Hsai from pinoyxbox: http://www.pinoyxbox.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=157920#157920 ========= another reason why there is no official support for consoles, with the exception of handhelds is the market. There are very few consumers that buy console-related products. The demographics in the Philippines is low. I replied: I think that, with enough serious effort and properly targeted marketing, console makers can create a demand for consoles. A market for games does exist and this is shown by the fact that pirated console games still sell wel...

Here's a pic which shows all the unlockable armors for Halo 3. These armors are useful for setting yourself apart in Halo 3 Multiplayer.

Because I don't have either of those consoles. I only make enough money to cover one system....and the Xbox 360, with its incredible library of games, is more than enough. Feel free to send me any of those consoles, if you feel it isn't fair that there's no coverage for those other consoles on the site. ;)

Spotted these over at spawn.com: http://spawn.com/toys/product.aspx?product=3417

Just posting this because I just played the demo and I had a blast...As a Sega fan from the days of the Genesis onwards to Saturn and Dreamcast, I found this to be a really fun experience. Download Virtua Fighter 5 on the Xbox Live marketplace! It's available in all regions right now.

NEOGAF may be loaded with console war in-fighting and Sony fanboys, but it's a really good source of news: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198495 Unreal Tournament 3 Beta Demo Download Links: http://itavisen.no/demo/4448 http://www.fileradar.net/files/view/Unreal-Tournament-3_UT3-Beta-Demo/1481 http://www.utcity.net/site/index.php?showfile=1&fid=868&p=downloads&area=1&categ=79 http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/794/mirrors.php http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/11252/Unreal+Tournament+3+Demo http://www.devotii.com/downloads/games/fps/ut3/demo http://dl.free.fr/bVRa2zxDC/SetupUT3Demo.exe http://www.photonization.com/autres/index.php?rep=./demo+pc&sub=demo+pc http://www.utzone.de/include.php?path=content/download.php&contentid=6293 http://www.mininova.org/get/936323 http://home.comcast.net/~infamousdd/UT3BetaDemotorrent.torrent Can my PC even run this? I guess I'll have to find out the hard way. I saw these specs for one gamer who tried it and ...

GamEX Magazine recently held the first ever Video Game Console Convention in the Philippines, GX-CON 2007 . The convention was held at SM Megatrade Hall 3, on October 7, 2007, from 10AM to 9PM. Pinoyxbox (PXB) was at the event to promote gaming on the Xbox 360. Lots of fun was had by all, and I think everyone did a great job in providing information on the console, as well as answering the usual questions about the console's games, the hardware, and Xbox Live. PXB had 3 consoles available for play at the event, and held playfests with Guitar Hero II, Halo 3, Gears of War, and Forza Motorsport 2. There weren't that many technical glitches for PXB, other than a balloon pillar that got popped halfway through because of staples on the floor. For this event, Pinoyxbox did NOT receive any kind of help or support from Microsoft Philippines --they were contacted about it (both through phone and via e-mail), but they didn't send any sort of reply (not even a "No, we're not...

BIOSHOCK – my review (Xbox 360) Genre: First Person Shooter/Horror/Adventure Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Irrational Games/2K Boston/2K Australia Rating: Mature (17 and up) By Philip Ortiz (Xbox Live Gamertag: scytherage) September 9 2007 Gameplay: 10/10 Graphics: 10/10 Sound: 10/10 Replayability: 9/10 Overall: 9.75/10 In this day and age, it's quite difficult to find a First-Person Shooter game that's radically different from everything else. They're either set a thousand years in the future, with the player cast as some supersoldier, armed to the teeth with various implements of death (machine gun, rocket launcher, etc.). Or, they're set in World War II, and the bad guys are the Nazis (who ever gets tired of shooting Nazis?) Of course, there is the present day shooter where its terrorists versus counter-terrorists, with the usual set of weapons (again, machine gun, rocket launcher etc.). And while I doubt that this successful formula will change anytime soon (Why s...